Sweet Stampin' - sympathy/ thinking of you

Hello everyone :o)

I'm here with my card for the latest challenge at Sweet Stampin', where our theme is 'sympathy/ thinking of you'...

I used one of the pretty new printable sheets from Digi Stamp Boutique, this one is from the Quick Print Birds sheet.  The sentiment is a clear stamp available HERE.  The papers are from a Craft Sensations pad I bought in The Range (I went in for a pack of gems to match a card I was making, as I didn't have quite the right thing... came out with 7 paper pads and some sheets for Morgan's bed lol.  Got the gems though!).  The sheer ribbon is from my stash and the cardstock is Core'dinations plus white linen card from Papermill Direct.

I soooo wanted to use my sewing machine on this card... I was so close to being brave and going for it, the bloomin' thing terrifies me though!  It's a Janome Mini and I've had it for years, used it once or twice when I first got it, but the whole thing with the threading process, the bobbins, the scary pedal, put me off and it's just been gathering dust ever since.  So I'm putting this here to try and push myself into getting over my fear very soon!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Try it on Tuesday - nature's beauty

Unicorn Challenge - use some ribbon

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely evening :o)

Sweet Stampin' - sympathy or thinking of you

Happy Saturday :o)

Our challenge over at Sweet Stampin' this week is 'sympathy or thinking of you', so I thought I'd use a brand new Hydrangea Set from DigiStamp Boutique, which includes the fab flower image and lots of useful sentiments.

Image & Sentiment - Hydrangea Set - DigiStamp Boutique

Colouring - copics

(Flower B60, B21, B63, BV25  Leaves G21, G24, YG67, G99  Background E41, E42)

White linen card - Papermill Direct

Papers - Crafter's Companion

Flower centres - Tonic Studios Nuvo Crystal Drops in Gloss White

Twill tape - Fantastic Ribbons

Inked Edges - Distress Ink in Frayed Burlap

Pearls from my stash

I've been to test drive my new car today... eeeeeek!  For the last 17ish years I've driven a Corsa... the same Corsa for all those years, gradually getting more and more decrepit, but still plodding along and running fine.  I don't like change!  Recently I was driving along and the exhaust fell off lol, but that got fixed and all was well again.  But my lovely mum decided it was time for a new one, so she's only gone and bought me one!  It's a Nissan Note, not brand new, but a very swish and shiny upgrade from my old faithful falling to bits banger... it'll be coming home in a few days and instead of being excited I'm terrified, I can't imagine driving anything else!

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend, thanks for popping in :o)

All white sympathy...

Hello everyone :o)

I nearly didn't bother showing this one, as I just couldn't get a photo that showed the details... white cards are so hard to photograph.  The light box was no good, so I ended up setting up near the window in the craft room, which worked better... maybe I'll try this set up for my other cards, it'd be easier than getting the light box out every time anyway!

I've got some old Bazill Basics templates that come in very handy whenever I need a butterfly trail.  They're just sheets with holes in the shape of different swirls and patterns... I pencil a dot through each hole, remove the template, then add 'pearls' over the top with a pearl pen.

Items Used

Butterfly die - possibly x-cut (magazine freebie I think)

Sentiment - Sweet Little Sentiments - Clearly Besotted

(stamped in Memento Ink in Espresso Truffle)

Viva Pearl pen in Ice White

Corner rounder punch

Distress Ink in Frayed Burlap (for the edges)

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Everybody Art - white

Off for a little catch up with your blogs, as I don't seem to have found much blogging time so far this week.  Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely evening :o)

Purple Wildflowers

Hello :o)

I had a quick play with a couple of MFT stamp sets today... I've probably had the wildflowers one for a couple of years and don't think I've ever used it.  I'm trying to be a bit better at inking up my unused stamps, I have so many of them it seems silly to keep buying more (that won't stop me though!).

Items Used

MFT Grand Peaceful Wildflowers

MFT Watercolour Backdrops

Memento Inks - Lulu Lavender, Sweet Plum, Elderberry

Doodlebug sequins

Dex was off school poorly today, although his symptoms were quite vague (it hurts here, here and here, and when I lean over...) and he was bored by mid-morning, so I think he might have tricked me lol... little monkey.

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely evening :o)

Less is More - sand

Hello everyone :o)

Today's card is my entry for this week's challenge at Less is More, where the theme is 'sand'... which reminded me that I'd bought (and not used yet) some Naturals Ivory card from Stampin' Up - I think it has a bit of a grainy 'sandy' look.  I didn't set out to make a sympathy card, it just evolved into one!

Items Used

4.5" x 5.5" card blank - Ivory Naturals cardstock - Stampin' Up

Sentiment - Love & Sympathy set - Stampin' Up

Memory Box Chloe Stem die - MCH (out of stock)

Memento Ink in Toffee Crunch

I like this card size but I've always been put off making them because it's not a standard size here and the envelopes aren't available (or not that I've found anyway), but I've now got the WRMK envelope punch board and it's rather fabulous lol... so I can do all sorts of random sizes now!

Ooh and I've just spotted Teresa's newest items at My Crafty Heart... Frantage!  I've see so many of you using it and it looks gorgeous so I think I might just have to try some... not sure how I'm going to choose which ones though!

Right... off for a little catch up with your blogs... Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Sympathy - white on white & CAS

I don't make many white on white cards - they look lovely when others do them but I'm not usually that keen on my own.  Sympathy cards should be simple though, so I think this sort of works...

Items Used

A6 card blank - white linen cardstock - Papermill Direct

Memory Box Delicate Fern die - MCH

Digi sentiment - Pink Petticoat

Word Window Punch - Stampin' Up

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Crafting When We Can - keep it simple

Happy Campers - white on white

Off for a little commenting catch up... Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Black Floral (in white!) - DigiStamp Boutique DT

Hello everyone :o)

It's my day to post over on the DigiStamp Boutique blog, and I've been playing with the gorgeous Black Floral set... It's supposed to be a sympathy card for a man - what do you think?  Is it appropriate?

The images are all black, but I wanted them white so I've changed the colour in PagePlus... I started with a solid digi paper, layered the image on and made it white, then did the same with the sentiment and printed them out.  Because the digi paper is printed on white card, you can then use a sandpaper block around all the edges to take the colour off, giving a white distressed edge... I quite like this effect!

Items Used

White linen cardstock - Papermill Direct

Digi stamp and sentiment - Black Floral set

Solid digi paper - Pink Petticoat

Viva Pearl Pen in Ice White - MCH

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Totally Papercrafts - CAS

MAWTT - CAS

We've been back to the vets with Bram (cat) again this evening, and he's now booked in for blood tests and general anaesthetic tomorrow morning as it looks like an abscess is brewing... fingers crossed he'll be ok, poor old man.

Off for a catch up and then I need to make a start on a card for my mum and her hubby as it's their anniversary in a couple of days... Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Spring Has Sprung sale at My Crafty Heart!

Hello everyone :o)

My Crafty Heart are having a sale to celebrate the arrival of spring, just until tomorrow evening... there's 15% off everything in the FLOWERS & BUTTERFLIES sections of the store.  That includes the latest gorgeous flowers from Prima, and the Memory Box butterfly die that I've used on today's card... except I've just realised it's out of stock at the moment, sorry!

Items Used

White linen cardstock - Papermill Direct

MFT dienamics Peek-a-boo squared die

Memory Box Isabella Butterfly die - MCH

MeiFlower Coffee Mix pearls - MCH

Sentiment tag stamp - LOTV

Detail white embossing powder

Twine from my stash

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

CAS on Sunday - round & round

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

Everybody Art - 2 colours

Off for a little blog catch up... Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

CAS Sympathy...

For me, sympathy cards just have to be CAS... I don't like to add too much 'stuff', simple feels better to me... of course this is just my opinion!

I got the idea for this one on Pinterest - the flowers are stamped with clear Versamark ink for a subtle effect.

Items Used

Buff, lilac smooth & white linen cardstock from Papermill Direct

Hero Arts Wildflower Garden stamps

Sentiment - Stampin' Up

Versamark ink pad

Memento ink pad in Lilac Posies

Off for a little blogging catch up... Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Sweet Stampin' - white on white

**My second post for today - if you popped in for the Sugar Nellie hop, click here or scroll down**

I'm back with my DT card for Sweet Stampin', where our challenge this week is 'white on white' or WoW.  We have 2 sponsors for this week - Letraset and our lovely teamie Natali's store Iva Nova Chest, and also our monthly sponsor Joanna Sheen.

Now, do you remember me saying the other day, how happy I was on all my teams and how I loved every minute in the craft room... well that doesn't apply to this card lol!  I love WoW cards when other people make them, but I really am hopeless at them.

Items Used

Pearlised card - Papermill Direct

Kanban tree stamp from the 'Spring Garden' set, embossed in Detail Silver

Sentiment stamp from the 'Just To Say' set - LOTV

Cuttlebug embossing folder called Jules Jewels (possibly!)

Memory Box Whimsical Flourish die - MCH

Memory Box Macarena Corner die - MCH

Mesh butterfly - MCH

Nestabilities ovals & Go Kreate circle dies

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend so far.  It's been hot in Sheffield - too hot for me, I just end up really sleepy!  Feels like it's cooling off a bit now though, so hopefully I can manage not to nod off.  Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Less is More - 3 shades of green

My plan for today was to make a quick card for this week's Less is More challenge, which is '3 shades of green'... for some reason my first card wasn't playing nicely and took me hours to finish, so I made a couple of quick ones after that - just so I didn't feel like I'd completely wasted the day!

For my first card I inked up a piece of ivory linen card, using 'scattered straw' and 'shabby shutters' distress inks, and 'bamboo' memento ink, then flicked drops of water on it from a paintbrush.  The motorbike and sentiment are Stampin' Up and were both stamped in 'bamboo' memento.  The scalloped border was cut with an MFT die and I added some scraps of card, a button and twine from my stash.

For my second card I've used one of my favourite techniques, it's so quick and easy and always looks different - even when you use the same stamps and ink.  I just inked up a Hero Arts stamp with 'new sprout' memento, then dabbed on 'shabby shutters' distress ink and a touch of 'bamboo' memento, sprayed the stamp with water and then stamped a few times on the card blank.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up and was stamped in 'bamboo' memento.

And then I made a similar card, using 'iced spruce' and 'evergreen bough' distress inks, spraying with water again.  I matted the Stampin' Up sentiment onto a slightly paler shade of aqua/ green.  I'm not sure if this one really turned out quite green enough!

Apologies if any of my post is nonsense... a couple of glasses of wine may have been consumed this evening and I might be ever so slightly tipsy... just a teeny bit of course!

PS. I haven't forgotten that it's Wednesday - I left the Waste Not Wednesdays link open for 2wks this time, as I knew it'd be a bit chaotic over the school hols - so if you'd like to play along this week please see this post :o)

Less is More - sketch

Sorry I've been such a rubbish blogger over the last few days - I haven't posted anything since Thursday and I'm so behind with my commenting too!  I'll be starting to catch up with you all this evening.  I had some stuff to do that I can't blog (or at least not yet), and also Dex has needed a lot more of my time and attention than usual, as he's really missing Morgan... well, we all are obviously, but time's a hard thing to understand when you're only 4!  It doesn't matter how many times we explain that he won't be back until the weekend, Dex still gets excited every time he hears a car outside.  We've all spoken to Morgan on the phone and he's having a fab time swimming with turtles and dolphins, and playing in the hotel pool, and he told Dex he's bought him a present.  I had a little cry when I came off the phone with him yesterday though, because he sounded a bit homesick and said he was missing us.  Looking forward to giving him a big cuddle!

Anyway, I managed to find some time today to make a card for Less is More, where the challenge for this week is a lovely simple sketch.

I had no intention of making a sympathy card when I started, so I'm not sure how my card turned into one... still, it's handy to have a few ready isn't it?

I've used the limited edition 'Seedless Preserves' distress ink, first using an ink duster brush and then around the edges with cut & dry foam.  My duster brush seems to have some bits that are longer than others, so it gives this uneven, blotchy look that I'm not sure about... I think I quite like the effect really, although I don't think it's really meant to be like that!  The stamp is the 'agapanthus cluster' by Stampendous, also stamped in seedless preserves, and the sentiment is Elzybells stamped in memento 'grape jelly'.  The inky panel is raised up on foam pads.

I'm going to try and catch up with some of you now, if Dex will let me - he's currently trying to feed me yoghurt coated raisins (bleurgh!) so I'm not sure how successful I'll be!

Flourishes medallion

Just a quick one from me today - I won some lovely Flourishes stamps and they arrived this morning so I thought I'd use one.

The medallion is one of my new Flourishes stamps - I inked it up in 'desert sand' memento and then dabbed 'rich cocoa' around the edges before stamping onto ivory linen card.  There are sentiments in the set, but I thought it might make a nice 'thinking of you' card, so I used a Personal Impressions sentiment.  Used a background grid stamp on the base card... think this is a Kaisercraft stamp but I'm not sure.  I don't really like this card, but that's not unusual for me lol!

Crafty Cardmakers - butterflies

Our challenge for this fortnight at Crafty Cardmakers is 'butterflies', so a nice easy one that everyone can join in with :o)

I'm not really sure about my card though!  I wanted to try making a background with a die cut mask, so I cut a go kreate frame and then used the waste piece to sponge distress inks through - using 'broken china', 'faded jeans' and 'black soot' inks.  The butterfly and dragonfly stamps are from the Penny Black 'salutations' set and the sentiment is Stampin' Up.  Added a pale blue pearl to the butterfly.

I think it needs something else to finish it off, but I'm not sure what.  I'm struggling to make anything particularly interesting at the moment, as I just can't concentrate with the boys off school... there's so much noise and always someone who needs something.  Hubby's off this week too, so we're planning some day trips and I doubt I'll get much crafty time.  Off to catch up with lots of commenting now as that's another thing that's a bit tricky to fit in with everyone at home!

An inky one...

I made this one about a week ago I think, when I was having a play with my distress inks, but then for some reason I forgot to blog it...

I think I used Scattered Straw, Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick, on linen card, to create the background and then edged everything in Antique Linen, but I'm not totally sure.  The stamp is Hero Arts 'wildflower garden' stamped several times across the card, sentiment is Penny Black.  Quite a simple card really, but I find it so relaxing playing with the inks like this :o)

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• The Stamp Man Challenge - anything by T!m (just TH inks as I don't have any of his stamps - yet)
• Papertake Weekly - hot hot hot (reds, pinks, oranges etc)

I forgot to mention last week, but we finally gave into pressure from just about everyone and had Dex's hair cut... we've always liked it quite long, sort of 'surfer dude' style - his hair's very blond and a bit curly.  But honestly, the way people went on about how he looked like a girl and how 'cruel' we were keeping it long... anyway we got it cut... I hate it!  Waaaaahhhhh!!!  Morgan's hair is short and it suits him, but Dex's hair definitely looked better long... oh well, I'm going to just let it grow again and ignore everyone in future lol.

Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight - sentiments

For this fortnight on The Spotlight Challenge, Jenni has set the challenge and she'd like to see creations where the focus is on the sentiment - so the sentiment must be the dominant part of the card.

I've had this Paper MakeUp sentiment stamp for AGES - I bought it just because I liked it, but then realised I couldn't really think of a use for it!  So it's sat there unused until now.  I've stamped it onto ivory linen card using 'bamboo' memento ink, and then used 'new sprout' memento to stamp a Kanban tree - I wanted this to be paler so that the sentiment was still the focus.  Mounted the stamped panel on a piece of core'dinations from my scraps, and that's it - super simple!

Off for a little hop around your blogs before I have to pick the boys up from school/ nursery...

Yet more Less is More!

I'm sorry, this must be getting very boring, but I'm back for a 3rd time with some more monochrome cards for Less is More!  I promise this is my last entry for this week.

Both using a Hero Arts stamp, stamped with memento inks onto white linen card from Papermill Direct. For the black version, I've stamped once in London Fog and again in Tuxedo Black, and for the purple I've used Lulu Lavender and Grape Jelly.  Added a teeny bit of glamour dust to the flower centres - hardly showing in the pics.  'Thinking of you' sentiment is from a Kanban set and 'with sympathy' is computer generated and punched out with the Stampin Up 'word window' punch.

I might be back later with another creation - although I promise it won't be another LIM one!  I've got to take Morgan to the docs after school though because he's hurt his leg, so I might have to blog this afternoon's card tomorrow.

Wildflower Garden

Apologies for the not very interesting card... still really busy so I haven't had chance to make anything else that I can show today.

This is another one of my new stamps (naughty!), a Hero Arts one called Wildflower Garden.  I've stamped it on a scrap of Pink Petticoat gingham, which was printed out on linen cardstock.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up, ribbon and pearls are from my stash.  I probably would have preferred this card on a white base, but I'm determined to use some of the coloured blank cards I've had since I first started cardmaking!  For some reason it seemed like a good idea to buy lots of them, but I never think to use them.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• The Crazy Challenge - anything goes
• Everybody Art - flowers
• Creative Card Crew - May flowers
• Crafty Creations - anything goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - anything goes

Keeping this brief so I can rush off and leave some comments...

My Core’dinations Creative Frenzy

Yesterday I was told about a Design Team Call at Core'dinations (thanks Vix!)... it ends tomorrow and I don't think I have even the teeniest tiniest chance of making the team, but my chances are slightly higher if I actually apply, so here goes...

For my first card I've used a LOTV stamp, coloured with promarkers and koh-i-noor pencils, with lots of glamour dust for sparkle.  Papers are First Edition 'up up and away'.  All coloured cardstock is obviously core'dinations.  The butterfly was cut with a MS punch, with pearls from my stash, sentiment from Craftwork Cards.  I've followed the sketch at I Love Promarkers for this one, so I'm entering my card there.

For this one I wanted to show how nicely stamps work on core'dinations, even though it's textured.  My card base is core'dinations (as is the rest of the cardstock) and I've used a Little Claire flower stamp and stamped all over the base in a slightly darker shade of yellow.  Then for the main image square I've stamped the flower in orange and the sentiment in red.

And my final card is 'one I made earlier'!  An embossed owl, simply sanded back to show off the design better... I love sanding core'dinations, it's so effective :o)

In all honesty, I think Core-dinations will probably be looking for people who do more 'interesting' things than I do, but you never know!  Fingers crossed eh?  Oh, here's the link for the DT call if any of you want to squeeze a quick entry in before it closes tomorrow!

Off to catch up with some of your blogs now...

It had to happen I suppose...

 

I've got the dreaded bug that everyone's getting... I suppose with both kids getting it, it was bound to get me in the end!  I feel completely wiped out, and haven't done any crafting today.  The most I've managed is clearing some toys out of the living room and putting the tree up at last.  I've still got a couple of Christmas cards to make, and I still haven't posted any - wish I was the organised type!  Dex is still really poorly too, so the rest of the day has been spent cuddled up in the chair together, watching Toy Story and Cbeebies pantos.

So I'm just blogging a card I already made, using another new stamp from Little Claire - available to pre-order here.  Haven't got the energy to find any challenges so I won't bother entering any!  Hopefully I'll get round to visit some of you later though.